01 Winters Thaw (5 page)

“RDL?” she asked, pointing to the small tattoo etched just above his heart.

He glanced down, running his fingers across the letters. “My brother’s initials.”

“Oh.”

“Got the tattoo on what would have been his twenty-first birthday. Might sound corny, but I sort of thought it was a way to show I’d never forget him.”

She shook her head. “Nothing corny about that. I think it’s a beautiful gesture. My dad and uncles have tattoos on their backs. Amazing ones that represent Compass Ranch. When I was little, I used to run my finger along the pictures on my dad’s while he explained what everything signified.”

“No ink on you?”

She grinned. “God no.”

“Why do you say it like that? Sounds like you like tattoos.”

“Oh, I do. I love them. I guess I’ve just never found anything meaningful enough to have it etched on my skin forever. Suppose I’m still searching for that memory I want to last.”

He could understand that. The small tattoo on his chest was his only one. Like her, he believed the sentiment behind the ink needed to be significant. Important.

She pointed down the narrow hallway toward the rear of his trailer. “I assume your bedroom is back there?”

“Won you over with my hot body, didn’t I?”

She uncapped the salve and he crinkled his nose at the potent scent. “You wish. This will be easier on the bed.”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “Most things are easier on the bed.”

She tilted her head. “One more sexual innuendo from you and I’m walking. Got it?”

“Spoilsport.”

She laughed as she headed down the hall. “Grab a bath towel if you have one.”

He stopped briefly by his small bathroom and plucked one from the rack. Then he joined her in his bedroom. “What’s this for?”

“I thought you could lay on it. It’ll keep your bedspread from getting sticky.” She kept her eyes glued to his face as she spoke, daring him to make another dirty comment.

“You’re not playing fair.”

Sienna winked. “Never said I would. Lay down, cowboy. On your stomach.”

Daniel spread the towel out and crawled to the center of the mattress, while trying to discreetly adjust the hard-on that emerged the moment Sienna had entered his bedroom.

Her knee lightly grazed his hip. He watched as she scooped some of the salve onto her hands and rubbed them together before pressing on his shoulder. Daniel groaned in relief.

“God damn, that feels nice.”

She deepened her touch, digging her fingers in and hitting all the right spots. “You’re wound up as tight as a spring. Try to relax.”

“That would be easier if you’d move those sweet hands a little lo—” He paused, cutting off his dirty joke midstream.

Her hands stopped moving. “A little what?”

“Nope. Not saying it. I don’t want you to leave.”

She chuckled and began caressing his stiff muscles again. “That bull did a number on you.”

He nodded, her soothing massage taking effect quickly. A few more minutes with her talented hands and he’d be sound asleep. “Yeah. I guess so.”

“I realize my dad brought you here to help the boys train for their rodeo competitions, but—” She stopped speaking. Daniel waited a few seconds, then he realized she wasn’t going to finish.

“But you hate the idea of your brothers growing up to ride the bulls.”

“It terrifies me.”

He could understand her concerns. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think James will pursue a life on the circuit. It’s just a hobby for him. Sort of like the guys who play football in high school. They’re in it for the camaraderie, the fun, not the long run.”

Sienna added more balm to her hands, then started rubbing his other shoulder. He didn’t bother to tell her that arm was fine. Her caresses were addictive. “It’s not James I’m worried about. It’s Doug.”

“He’s young. A million things could come up between now and the time when he’s old enough to decide where he wants his life to take him.”

His words didn’t seem to comfort her. “Maybe. But maybe not. Doug’s a lot like me. Once he latches on to something, it’s next to impossible to sway him. He seems hell-bent on riding the circuit as soon as he’s old enough.”

“Does that mean you always knew you’d be a nurse?”

She nodded. “Aunt Lucy swears I came out of the womb with my future predetermined.”

Daniel wasn’t surprised. “Lucy is the aunt who is a nurse too, right?” Even after two weeks, he was still trying to put names with all the Compton faces. It was a big family.

“Yeah. She is. I used to love to follow her around when she made house calls. She’s an amazing caregiver, so compassionate, patient, kind. I spent every summer from the time I was twelve until I graduated from high school as her assistant.”

“You’re lucky.”

“How so?” she asked.

“I never really knew what I wanted to do with my life. Hell, I still don’t.”

Her hands left his shoulders, moving lower along his back. If he were a cat, he swore to God, he’d start purring. She was working her magic, alleviating every bit of tension in his body, offering him comfort, relieving the pain. Lucy was right. She
was
born to be a nurse.

“You didn’t always plan to ride bulls in the rodeo?”

He shook his head once, too lethargic for much more motion than that. “No. I guess I was just your typical kid, full of crazy dreams about futures that wouldn’t happen. In elementary school, I told everyone I was going to be a famous football quarterback with a handful of Super Bowl rings. Then, in middle school, I figured I’d make an awesome rock star even though I’d never picked up a guitar and my singing sounds more like frogs croaking.”

Sienna laughed. “Wow. There’s a perverse side of me that would like to hear you sing.”

Daniel grinned. “Seriously toyed with the idea of being a cop in high school, but I have an aversion to guns.”

“Really? So you aren’t a hunter?”

Daniel knew hunting was a popular form of recreation in Wyoming—for sport and for food—but he’d never felt compelled to go out and kill a defenseless creature. “Nope. Not going to shoot something that doesn’t have the ability to shoot me back. Doesn’t seem fair.”

He glanced over his shoulder in time to catch her impressed expression. “Good for you. Josh and his dad hunt all the time. Before we went off to college, they spent two weeks every fall on these big hunting excursions. The living room in his family’s home is filled with deer heads and stuffed turkeys, even a bobcat. It’s like
Village of the Damned
in there. Gives me the creeps.”

“I can imagine it would.” He resisted the urge to point out that if she married Josh it was likely she’d be living in her own creepy animal graveyard.

“So when did you realize you could ride the circuit?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Not sure there was an
aha
moment or if I just sort of fell into it. I graduated from high school and decided to take a year to travel around, see a bit more of this big-ass country of ours. I only made it as far as Colorado. Stopped off to see a rodeo. I’d participated in competitions most of my life, but in the East, it’s not quite at the same level as out here. Anyway, I was bitten. Signed up for some amateur shows, won more than I lost. Before I knew it, I was there, riding in the professional circuit. Best two years of my life.”

“And then the bull?”

“Yep. Bastard put a period to that career choice.”

Her hands stilled, but she left them lying in the middle of his back. They were warm, comforting. “So what now? You plan to be a ranch hand the rest of your life?”

He sat up, facing her. “I haven’t exactly figured that out yet.”

She shook her head, a wrinkle forming in the center of her brow. “How can you stand that?”

He chuckled. “Stand what?”

“Just drifting around aimlessly with no direction, no goals.”

He tilted his head. “I have a goal, Sienna.”

She picked up his towel and wiped her hands on it. “Like what?”

“I want to be happy.”

“That’s your big goal? To be happy?”

He stretched his shoulders, amazed by how much better he felt, how loose. She’d worked wonders on his tense muscles. “Can you think of a better ambition?”

“I’m not saying that’s not a good thing to aspire to, but how do you intend to get there?”

He glanced around his room. “I’m pretty happy right now.”

“At Compass Ranch?”

He nodded, though she’d missed his point. “Yeah, I like it here. Like your family and the work.”

“Oh.”

He shifted closer. “But when I said I’m happy now, I meant this moment, sitting here, with you.”

A slight flush painted her cheeks. “Flirting will get you nowhere, Daniel Lennon. I have a boyfriend, remember?”

He nodded, unconcerned by her reminder. Sienna needed a break from her well-ordered life and he intended to see she got it. There was something about the unflappable woman that made him long to ruffle her feathers. “What do you do for fun, Sienna? I’ve been here two weeks and your life seems to consist of work, home, repeat. Don’t you ever go out?”

She shrugged. “I’ll go out when Josh gets home. We like to go to the movies or out to dinner together.”

He let his sarcastic tone say it all. “Wow.”

She scowled. “I’m sure it doesn’t sound very exciting to you. I understand you went out with some of the hands last night. Rumors are flying around about you and the blonde waitress at Spurs.”

He loved small towns. Never took long to get a reputation. Even one that wasn’t earned. “Oh yeah? What are the rumors?”

Her face turned a bright shade of red. “I’m not about to say it aloud, but I’d certainly never be caught dead having sex in a public bathroom. They’re filthy.”

He couldn’t help it. He laughed. He’d been propositioned by the waitress, but he hadn’t accepted her offer. Even so, it was more fun to let Sienna think he had. “Are you sure you want to get married, Sienna? Seems to me you may be better suited for life in a convent.”

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with keeping my sexual encounters private and with someone that I love.”

“Josh was your first, wasn’t he?” He knew the answer. There weren’t too many subjects Jade considered off-limits and she’d filled in that blank on Daniel’s third day on the ranch.

Sienna glanced around the room, unwilling to look him in the eye. “Not that it’s any of your business, but yes.”

“And you’ve never been with anyone else?”

She shook her head, still refusing to face him.

“What a waste.”

Her gaze flew to his. “It’s not a waste. It’s beautiful, romantic. We’re in love. Who says I have to sleep with a million different men just to have a full life?”

“I’m not suggesting you go out and screw half the men in Compton Pass. But aren’t you curious? Don’t you ever wonder what it would be like to take another man to your bed?”

Sienna started to rise, but Daniel caught her hand.

“This conversation is way too personal. You’re crossing a line, Daniel.”

“No. I haven’t even started to cross it yet. But I will.” He tightened his grip on her wrist, though the action wasn’t necessary. She wasn’t trying to get away anymore. “It’s like you’re frozen in ice, Sienna. You’ve surrounded yourself with a thick, cold wall hoping it will preserve all the things you think you want and keep you safe from the unknown.”

She didn’t respond, though he felt the slightest tremor in her hand.

“You’re so focused on the end result, you’re stifling yourself. Have you ever said to hell with anything? Ever done something crazy without worrying about the consequences?”

“That would be stupid, reckless,” she whispered.

“Yeah, it would.” He leaned closer, drawing her near enough that he could feel the heat of her breath on his face. “Be reckless,” he dared her. “Just once. Right now.”

She didn’t move, didn’t reject him as he closed the distance between them and kissed her. He kept the touch light at first, gentling her as he would a skittish horse. Her lips gradually softened beneath his. He lifted his hand to her face, cupping her smooth cheek with his palm before running his fingers through her long hair.

Sienna’s name suited her. There was a fiery red fighting to be released from the muted brown she used to bury her true nature.

She responded slowly but surely. Turning her head slightly, she allowed him to deepen the kiss. Her lips parted and he accepted her silent invitation, his tongue meeting hers halfway. She tasted so damn sweet.

Her hands returned to his bare shoulders, her fingers gripping the muscles in a much sexier massage. It took all the strength in his body not to push her down on the mattress, to cover her body with his and show her the true meaning of recklessness. But he wouldn’t—couldn’t—do it. She wasn’t ready to accept his offer. And if he was a good guy, he wouldn’t make it. She had a boyfriend.

He started to break the connection, but Sienna beat him to it. She rose quickly, moving backward until she hit the wall. “Shit. I can’t… We shouldn’t have—”